Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He proceeds to extol Christ's spiritual wisdom above all natural and animal wisdom.
Hence he says, first, that he knows and preaches nothing else but Christ crucified; and that not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the showing of the Spirit and of power.
Nevertheless secondly, in verse 5, he asserts that he speaks wisdom among the perfect; a wisdom, I say, hidden from the world, which neither eye has seen, nor ear has heard, but only the Spirit of God has revealed.
Hence thirdly, in verse 14, he teaches that the animal man does not perceive the things which are of God; but the spiritual man perceives and judges all things.
Vulgate Text: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ. 2. For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling; 4. and my speech and my preaching were not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of the Spirit and of power: 5. that your faith might not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 6. Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world that come to nought: 7. but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which is hidden, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, 8. which none of the princes of this world knew: for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. 9. But, as it is written: That eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love Him: 10. but to us God has revealed them by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11. For what man knows the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him? so the things also that are of God no man knows, but the Spirit of God. 12. Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are given us from God: 13. which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things to spiritual. 14. But the sensual man does not perceive these things that are of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand: because it is spiritually examined. 15. But the spiritual man judges all things: and he himself is judged by no man. 16. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Verse 1: And I, Brethren, When I Came to You, Came Not in Loftiness of Speech or of Wisdom
The Apostle descends from the thesis to the hypothesis, as if to say: I said in the preceding chapter that God in preaching the Gospel did not wish to use the wisdom of secular wise men, but rejected and reprobated it; and through the foolishness of preaching He willed to save the believers, and therefore He chose not many noble and wise, but ignoble and rude Apostles for promulgating the Gospel; from these things I infer and say: "And I," that is, therefore I also, as one from the flock of the Apostles, who according to God's election and will did not use eloquence and worldly wisdom, did not wish to use them, and I came to you, not in loftiness, but in simplicity of speech and of wisdom.
Verse 2: For I Judged Not Myself to Know Anything Among You, but Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified
Note "I judged." as if to say: I did not reckon, did not esteem any other science than that which is concerning Jesus crucified, our Savior: hence I conducted myself among you, as if I knew nothing of human wisdom, although I was very skilled in it, for elsewhere I cite Greek poets; but among you I dissembled, so that I might preach simply, as the other Apostles, only Christ crucified: not that I did not preach the other mysteries of the faith, but that I chiefly taught and impressed that one ought to glory in the one cross of Christ alone, and that justice and salvation are to be hoped for therein, and the cross, as Anselm adds, is to be imitated, and the vices are to be crucified by the Christian. For in Christ crucified, besides other things, one may see that Christ has chosen and embraced these three: namely the highest pain, the highest poverty or nakedness, and the highest ignominy. Therefore Christ by His pain crucified and taught us to crucify the concupiscence of the flesh; in like manner by His poverty He crucified the concupiscence of the eyes, or love of money; and finally by His ignominy He crucified the pride of life: which three are the general vices of the world and the sources of all sins, as St. John teaches, epistle I, chapter II, verse 16. See what was said about the cross of Christ in chapter 1, verse 23.
Verse 3: And I in Weakness, and in Fear, and in Much Trembling Was with You
And (therefore) I in weakness (that is, in hardships, tribulation and persecution), and in fear, and in much trembling (because of the harassment of the Jews and Gentiles persecuting me) was with you.
Chrysostom and Anselm note that the Apostle here and elsewhere calls "weakness" the hardships from dangers, snares, exiles, daily fear, calumnies, hatreds. Again, that Paul suffered enormous hardships and persecutions at Corinth is sufficiently clear from the fact that he had to be strengthened there by Christ in a vision against them, Acts xviii, 9: "Fear not, says Christ to Paul; I am with you, no one will be set upon you to harm you." Hence soon there the Jews stirred up a tumult against Paul, and dragged him to the tribunal of Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, and publicly before him beat Sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue, Acts xviii, 12.
4. And my speech (private and familiar), and my preaching (public discourse: thus St. Thomas and the Gloss distinguish speech from preaching, indeed Seneca too, epistle 38: "That speech profits most, he says, which has crept little by little into the soul; prepared and effusive disputations, with the people listening (which he afterwards calls public discourses), have more noise, less intimacy." Therefore this our speech, as well as our preaching) was not in persuasive (that is, persuasory, or refined for persuading: thus 'incredible' in the Scriptures is the same as 'incredulous') words of human wisdom. — For the orators and philosophers who were at Corinth excelled in these and surpassed Paul. But Paul had to persuade the Corinthians of a new philosophy, by a new manner of speaking and acting, and in this he excelled all the orators and philosophers, namely, "in the showing of the spirit and of power." So St. Martin, according to Sulpicius, said: "The kingdom of God consists not in eloquence, but in faith;" and St. Augustine, sermon 1 On Those Approaching Grace: "We do not, he says, utter to you thundering and poetical words, nor anything composed by the art of grammarians, nor disguised by an eloquent discourse of secular eloquence, but we preach Christ crucified;" and book Against Felician, chapter ii: "Nor will I ever presume, he says, in the wisdom of word, lest the cross of Christ be made void: but content with the authority of the Scriptures, I study rather to obey simplicity, than swelling."
This therefore was the demonstration of the Apostles, namely to show, first, great zeal and a spirit pouring forth wisdom and secrets, not human, but divine, so that the hearers might manifestly perceive the Holy Spirit speaking through their mouth; secondly, to show great virtues, that is, prodigies and miracles. Whence Origen, book I Against Celsus: "Our discipline, he says, has its own demonstration, more divine than the demonstrations of the Greeks, which the Apostle names the demonstration of spirit and power, inasmuch as by the Spirit through prophecies (Origen here explains 'spirit' otherwise than I have explained it, but, as it seems, less genuinely) building up faith in the things which are reported about Christ; and by power, through the prodigies which we believe were done." For, as Oecumenius says, "the demonstration which is by works and signs is firmer than that which is produced from words." This therefore was the apostolic manner of preaching, and the most efficacious, which our preachers should set before themselves and imitate, namely that their speech should not be polished, made up, affected, "in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of the spirit and of power." Thus they will turn out to be Apostolic, and their words will be like fiery arrows penetrating hearts, and like hammers crushing rocks. Hear St. Jerome, epistle 2 to Nepotian: "When you teach in the church, let not the shout of the people, but the groan be raised; let the tears of the hearers be your praises." This spirit, as also the fruit of preaching, is to be obtained from God by prayer. Whence Origen, book VI Against Celsus, citing these same words of the Apostle: "What do these words mean, he says, other than that it is not enough that what we say be true and apt for moving the souls of men, unless a certain power has been divinely granted to the teacher, and the energy of heavenly grace is present in his sayings? And this is what David says in Psalm LXVII: The Lord will give the word to those evangelizing with much power."
Verse 5: That Your Faith Might Not Stand on the Wisdom of Men, but on the Power of God
As if to say: Therefore God wills that I evangelize, not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of spirit and power, "that your faith," that is your conversion to the faith of Christ, may be attributed not to men's wisdom and eloquence, but to the power, that is, the might and efficacy of God; namely, that your faith may be founded, not on the wisdom and power of men, but of God. So Anselm and others.
Verse 6: Howbeit We Speak Wisdom Among the Perfect
"Wisdom," namely Christian; concerning Christ's cross, grace, salvation and eternal glory acquired for us through Christ, "I speak among the perfect," that is, the faithful; who although they are simple, yet in matters of salvation are perfectly wise above Aristotle and any other philosopher: so Chrysostom and Anselm; and who not only have been reborn by baptism, but also confirmed by the sacrament of Confirmation, have attained the perfection of Christianity, and have been made perfectly Christian. For from St. Dionysius and others the sacrament of Confirmation is called teleioma, that is perfection, or consummation; and the confirmed themselves are called perfect, or consummated. So Salmeron. And the same is insinuated by Irenaeus, book V, chapter vi, when he says: "We speak wisdom among the perfect, calling those perfect who have received the Holy Spirit, and speak in all tongues through the Spirit of God, just as he himself spoke."
Second, more simply, "wisdom," that is, the more secret and higher mysteries of the faith, as concerning the resurrection, the Antichrist, reprobation, predestination; or rather, "wisdom," that is the deeper higher explication of the things of faith, as concerning the manner, counsel and end of the incarnation, passion and redemption of Christ; for thus Paul explains this wisdom in the verses immediately following. This I speak and expound not to the rude at the beginning, but to the advanced and perfect. Whence he calls these perfect ones, in verse 15, spiritual, and opposes them to the animal, the little ones and the carnal, as if to say: Although, as I said in verse 4, I may seem destitute of human wisdom, yet not of divine; for although to you, because little ones, I have given only milk, that is simple and easy doctrine, as he says in the next chapter, verse 2, yet I speak hidden and divine wisdom among the perfect.
By these words the Apostle defends his authority among the Corinthians, who, having heard Apollo, an eloquent and wise man, seemed to make little of Paul as if he were ineloquent and unlearned.
But not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world. — Anselm, Ambrose, Cajetan and others by "princes of this world" understand the demons, who rule in this air, and in the impious and the sons of this world: and from this they prove that the demon before Christ's passion, although he knew that Christ was God and the Messiah, did not however know whether by His death the demon's empire was to be destroyed and men to be redeemed, as is said in verse 8. This is true, and the same is more truly so in men.
Whence secondly, more simply Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm, Tertullian, book III Against Marcion, chapter vi; Origen, homily 2 on the Canticle, by princes of the world they take the chief men, who excel among men in wisdom, wealth, or power: whence he says: "Who are destroyed," that is, are abolished, pass away, vanish. For this is the Greek katargoumenoi; and these properly crucified Christ, as is said in verse 8. Such were Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiphas and the other princes of the Jews and of the Gentiles.
Verse 7: But We Speak the Wisdom of God in a Mystery
It is a Hebraism, for ב bet, that is in, is put for the government of the genitive. "Wisdom in a mystery," that is the wisdom of the mystery, namely of that great and hidden divine counsel about the incarnation of the Word and the redemption of men through Christ, which can be known by no natural reason by man, indeed not even by an angel. This is clear from Ephesians III, verses 4 and 5. Whence in I Timothy III, 16, he calls this wisdom of the mystery "the great sacrament of piety." So Theophylact, Ambrose, Oecumenius here, and Jerome and Leo Castrius on Isaiah chapter LXIV. The same Leo however, secondly, also interprets it of the magnitude of the glory of the Blessed: for this was the end of the Word incarnate and suffering, as follows.
Second, more simply, the "in a mystery" refers not to "wisdom," but to "we speak," as if to say: "In a mystery," that is, secretly and among the few, namely those who are spiritual and perfect, we speak this deeper and hidden wisdom which is concealed. Whence the Syriac translates "we speak God's wisdom in secret;" and Tertullian, "we speak the wisdom of God in concealment;" and because, if he had wished to say the wisdom of the mystery, he would rather have said: That which is hidden; but now he says: "Which is hidden." Finally because this properly is, to speak in a mystery: for those are called mystae, says Eustathius, ἀπὸ τοῦ μύειν τὸ ςόμα, that is, from closing the mouth: because they did not divulge the mysteries and secrets of their religion, but concealed them, and only taught them in secret to a few who were priests or wiser. Hence St. Dionysius and others wrote books on Mystical Theology.
Verse 8: Which None of the Princes of This World Knew
The pronoun "which" refers either, or rather, to our glory, than to wisdom, as if to say: If Pilate, Annas, Caiphas and the other princes of the Jews had known this wisdom, or rather glory, and its predestination through Christ, as the Lord of glory itself, namely Christ, by whose merit before the ages, namely from eternity, this eternal glory was predestined and prepared for us, they would not have crucified Him. Gabriel Vasquez astutely notes this, I part., disp. 2, ch. III, and it is clear from what follows. Hence the Apostle tacitly infers that none of the other princes knew this wisdom and glory of Christ. For it is an argument from the primary example: for the Jews were the wisest above the Gentiles, especially in divine matters; if therefore they did not know it, much more did the others not know it.
9. But, — namely this wisdom and glory was hidden from them, which is the end of that wisdom; and he proves this from what Isaiah wrote about it: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard." It is an ellipsis. See Canon 38.
Verse 9: As It Is Written: That Eye Has Not Seen, Nor Ear Heard
Note that Isaiah chapter LXIV, which Paul here cites, treats of the incarnation of Christ and the present life. Whence Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theophylact, Oecumenius take this verse of the miracles of Christ, and of the wisdom, virtues and all the grace which Christ communicated to us while living here.
Secondly and more aptly, Isaiah seems in admiration to fly off from the incarnation and Christ as man, to the heavenly glory, which is the fruit and end of Christ's incarnation. For such raptures and transitions are familiar to the Prophets, on account of the prophetic light, sublime and ample. This is plain from the very words, and because he says: "To them that wait;" and: "You met him that does justice." Therefore he speaks of the fruit of the works of the just, namely eternal life, which we await: for the fruit of the incarnation and faith does not meet those doing justice, but those sitting in darkness and sins. So Jerome on chapter LXIV of Isaiah; St. Dionysius, On the Heavenly Hierarchy, chapter XII, and Vasquez in the cited place. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 4 in the Vigil of the Nativity: "The eye, he says, has not seen the inaccessible light, the ear has not heard the incomprehensible peace, etc. But what is it that does not enter into the heart of man? Surely because it is a fount, and knows no ascent. For we know that the nature of fountains is to seek the streams of valleys, to decline the heights of mountains: because God resists the proud, but to the humble gives grace." About this magnitude of beatitude Augustine writes piously and is sweetened in his Meditations, chapter xxiv and following, and Soliloquies chapter xxxv and xxxvi, which little works seem to have been collected by some pious one from the works of Augustine. Aptly indeed to this passage of the Apostle, the author of the book On the Spirit and Soul (which exists in tome III of the works of St. Augustine), chapter xxxvi: "Just as, he says, the exterior man with regard to these temporal things is affected by a fivefold sense, that is, by sight, hearing, taste and the rest; so the interior man, in the blessed life, with regard to the five ineffable things of God, is affected by an ineffable love: for when he loves his God, He will love a certain light, a certain voice, a certain odour, a certain food, and a certain interior embrace: for there shines what place does not contain; there sounds what time does not snatch away; there smells what wind does not scatter; there tastes what voracity does not diminish; there clings what satiety does not tear apart; there indeed God is seen without intermission; is known without error; is loved without offense; is praised without weariness."
This sentence of the Apostle once converted St. Hadrian and made him a martyr: for since he was a soldier in his flourishing age, namely twenty-eight years old, and saw such great constancy of Christian Martyrs in enduring torments for the faith of Christ, he asked them: What do you expect for such pains? what is it that compels you to overcome such great torments? They answered him: "We hope for those goods which neither eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him." Touched by this voice and converted, Hadrian sees to it that he is at once enrolled in the catalogue of Martyrs, and cheerfully underwent harsh martyrdom at Nicomedia (with his wife St. Natalia looking on and inciting him), under Diocletian, in the year of the Lord 306.
Third, full will be the intelligence of this passage, if you combine both senses already said, as if to say: "Eye has not seen," etc., that is, they surpass all sense, experience, natural thought, and every natural desire of man, those goods which You, O Lord God, have prepared through Christ for those waiting for You, both in this life, namely for those who have already heard something about them; but most of all and most properly in future glory: for in that God, who is every good, will give Himself to the Blessed, and will be all in all, says Anselm. For with these words of Isaiah the Apostle proves what he had said, namely that the wisdom and the glory of Christ are arcane and hidden, as I said in the preceding paragraph.
Note: "It has not entered into the heart of man," that is, it has not come into the mind of man, or man cannot naturally think, conceive, or understand: for "heart" by catachresis among the Hebrews signifies mind: for what the heart is in the body, namely the first and most noble part of the body, and so the fount and principle of life, this is the mind in the soul; add that the heart supplies to the brain animal spirits, which serve the imagination and consequently the understanding. Hence Aristotle, On Sleep and Wakefulness, chapter II, although Galen and all the physicians oppose, placed the common sense not in the brain, but in the heart. Beautifully someone distinguished and separated the vital parts of man by their functions in this distich:
The heart understands, and the lung speaks, the gall stirs anger,
The spleen makes one laugh, the liver compels to love.
Again the Hebrews call the thought of the mind "ascent," and to think they call "to ascend into the heart": because a thing thought and understood first ascends from the earth or some other object into the eyes or ears, and from there to the common sense and phantasy, and from there finally to the mind as if to the citadel and summit of man: for the highest thing in man is the mind.
Note secondly: For "those waiting," as Isaiah has it, Paul has "those loving," because expectation flows naturally from love.
Verse 10: To Us God Has Revealed by His Spirit
Namely through the Holy Spirit. It is a prolepsis, or occupation: for he tacitly meets this objection: If this wisdom and glory which Christ has prepared for His friends, the eye has not seen, nor has it entered into the heart of man; whence then do you, Paul, boast that you know and preach the same? Paul answers that he knows the same not through any vision, sensation, or natural conception, but through the instinct and revelation of God. Hence Clement of Alexandria, book I Paedagogus, chapter xi, thus interprets the "nor ear has heard": "Except that one, he says, alone, which was rapt to the third heaven," namely Paul's, who in paradise heard with his ear these arcane words, which are not lawful for a man to speak. So Paul says: "But to us," namely the spiritual Prophets and Apostles, God has revealed these things, so that we may teach the same to you little ones, O Corinthians, and to others.
Hence it is clear that our glory and beatitude is supernatural not only in attainment, but also in knowledge; knowledge, I say, not quidditative, but obscure and enigmatic, such as that of the Apostles and the other wayfarers was; and consequently, that there is not in man a perfect and efficacious desire, or natural appetite, of this beatitude. So the Scholastics, I Part., Question XII, article 1.
The Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. — Note first, the catachresis, "searches," that is, penetrates and perspicaciously sees: for men, in order to perspicaciously see something unknown, are wont to scrutinize and inquire into it; but God without inquisition discerns all things in one stroke and intuition of mind. So St. Thomas, Theodoret and Theophylact.
Secondly, by "deep things of God" he calls all the inmost and most secret counsels of God; among which the greatest is this mystery of the glory and redemption of men through Christ; all these the Holy Spirit penetrates and clearly sees, because He is of one essence and knowledge with God, and consequently so searches the deep things of God, that nothing remains uncognized in God; but His knowledge and vision adequates its object, and He knows God as much as He can be known, that is, the Holy Spirit, as God, comprehends both God and the Divinity, and Himself. So Molina, I part., Question XIV, article 3, Theodoret, St. Thomas. Hence Ambrose and the ancients against Macedonius prove that the Holy Spirit is God, as if Paul says: These mysteries and arcana of God the Holy Spirit has revealed to us, He is conscious of all God's secrets, and therefore searches and clearly sees the deep things of God.
Verse 11: What Man Knows the Things of a Man?
Those things which lie hidden in the inmost parts of man, namely in the heart and mind, that is, thoughts, volitions and intentions, and the very depth of the human heart.
The things which are of God (which are hidden in the mind of God, namely thoughts, counsels and determinations of the divine will), no one has known, except the Spirit of God, — that is the Holy Spirit, who is conscious of them as much as of Himself; for the Holy Spirit is intimate to God, just as the spirit of a man is intimate to the man himself; and therefore just as the spirit of man partakes of humanity, so the Spirit of God partakes of divinity and divine omniscience and omnipotence.
Note: When he says, "No one has known, except the Spirit," it is to be understood, and except him to whom the Spirit has willed to reveal these things, as I said in verse 10 that He revealed them to me and the Apostles.
Note secondly: When he says, "No one except the Spirit," He does not exclude the Son: for since He is the Word, He also knows the deep things of God. For in divine matters, when an exclusive or exceptive expression is attributed to one person, with respect to the essential attributes, it does not exclude the other divine persons, but other essences from the divine: for it only excludes those which are of a nature different from God, as if to say: No one knows the secrets of God, except the Spirit of God, and those who have the same nature, intellect, knowledge with the Spirit, namely the Father and the Son; these alone know the deep things of God, no other.
Verse 12: We Have Received Not the Spirit of This World, but the Spirit Which Is of God
He opposes the spirit of the world to the Spirit which is of God, and this latter He attributes to Himself and the Apostles, the former to the wise of the world and to animal men. Therefore the spirit of the world is he who has revealed that the Church is holy, but not that I am holy; for although He has revealed and promised remission of sins and justice to all in the Church who rightly believe and repent, He has nevertheless not revealed that I rightly believe and repent; and consequently neither has He revealed to me that my sins are remitted and that I am just.
Whence the Apostle adds:
That we may know the things that are given us of God. — As if to say: This Spirit shows and reveals to us what and how great are the goods given by God to us — namely, to the Apostles and to others who love God — to wit, such as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they ascended into the heart of man, as I said in verse 9: for to that point Paul returns and looks back here.
That we may know. — Hence the heretics establish their particular faith by which every believer and Christian knows for certain — indeed must believe with divine faith — that through Christ he has the gifts of God, namely the remission of sins, grace, justice, and (according to Calvin) that he is elected to eternal glory. But this is not faith, but a foolish and false presumption and imposture; because we do not know for certain whether we have rightly disposed ourselves to justice, and whether we believe with certainty and as we ought; nor anywhere in Sacred Scripture has it been written and revealed, namely, that I believe as I ought, just as neither that I am just and elect.
I answer therefore that the Apostle is speaking in general about the gifts, and only about those which have been given to the Apostles and to the Church, as if to say: That we may know — we Apostles — with what and how great gifts and benefits in general Christ has enriched us, that is, His Church, namely, how great is the grace of the Holy Spirit, the redemption, the virtues, and especially how great the glory: for of this He treated in verse 9, and these things are in God, as he says in verse 11, that is, in the free will and predestination of God; and that these have been given by God to the Church, we know through His Spirit and revelation: for these things we speak and preach, as follows, as an article of faith; but that I am one of these, or am a participant in them, is not a matter of faith, but of conjecture; nor is it to be preached publicly, but to be hoped for in secret. See Canon 9.
That these things may be more clearly and fully understood, note that the phrase "that we may know" can be taken in two ways, namely first objectively, second subjectively. For objectively the Apostles, and all the faithful, knew from the prophecies, miracles and other divine signs that God had promised to His congregation, or Church, gathered through the Apostles of Christ and to be gathered hereafter, and according to His promises had given His grace, remission of sins, justice and other gifts of graces, and finally a certain hope of eternal life: to the Church, I say, in common; but not in particular to this or that faithful person, because in particular we do not know whether this or that one is truly faithful.
In this way "that we may know" is the same as "that we may believe." For we believe that the Catholic Church is holy, and that in her there is remission of sins and life eternal. Therefore God has only revealed that the Church is holy, not that I am holy.
Second, "that we may know" can be taken subjectively. As if to say: That we Apostles, in ourselves as it were as subjects, may know by experience how great a wisdom and grace God has given us; and then "that we may know" does not mean "that we may believe," but "that we may experience." For none of the Apostles believed by divine faith that he had this wisdom and grace; but he experienced its acts and effects in himself so vehement, frequent, clear and certain, that morally he did not doubt that he had the true wisdom and grace of God. For the Apostles were full of grace and wisdom, and they were obliged to teach others and to spread it to the whole world. Although therefore the Apostles knew by experience that they were just and holy, yet other faithful do not know this, or know it; but only hope, and from the signs of an upright and honest life conjecture and form an opinion. Neither, however, believe this very thing by divine faith: for all experience generates only human faith, not divine, which alone rests on and is begotten by the revelation of God.
Verse 13: Which We Speak Not in the Learned Words of Human Wisdom, but in the Doctrine of the Spirit
"Not in learned," that is, not in the words of Cicero, Demosthenes, Aristotle, such things as human wisdom teaches; "but in the doctrine of the Spirit," that is, in those words which the Holy Spirit teaches. The Interpreter seems to have read διδακτή, that is, "in doctrine": now in Greek it reads ἐν διδακτοῖς, that is, "in learned," as preceded, but the sense is the same.
Comparing spiritual things (matters) with spiritual things (words and discourses), — and conferring, as if to say: I teach this spiritual wisdom from Scripture and from other spiritual discourses, not however from philosophical, rhetorical, or earthly arguments, concepts and utterances: thus St. Chrysostom; for example, "If it is asked," says Oecumenius, "whether Christ rose on the third day, I bring proofs and testimony from Jonah. If it is asked whether the Lord was born of a Virgin, the proof and comparison is taken from the barren Anna and Elisabeth." Here the Apostle assigns the cause and reason a priori why he abstained from worldly eloquence and wisdom in his preaching. The cause is that human and divine wisdom differ very greatly from each other. Since therefore speech ought to be accommodated to its subject, it was clearly fitting that the speech by which divine wisdom was preached should be accommodated to it, and should differ from the speech of human wisdom — namely that it should be simple, weighty, efficacious and divine, as proceeding from the Holy Spirit, who would reject all the paint of oratory: for here the matter itself forbids being adorned, content to be taught. For just as the words of human wisdom carry with them the wisdom and spirit of the man speaking, so the discourses of the Holy Spirit bring into the soul the wisdom of God and His Spirit, speaking through the Apostles.
Verse 14: The Sensual Man Perceives Not These Things That Are of the Spirit of God
"Sensual" (animalis) is here said of him who follows only the senses and the natural light of reason; or who "is according to the soul, and according to the soul is wise, and follows the senses and thoughts of the soul": such were the Apostles before the Holy Spirit, and the Corinthians at this time, seeking eloquence; and even now many faithful, even those not bad, who do not grasp higher things.
Note: He is called "animalis" (sensual) who lives by the soul, and the term is taken in three ways. First, he who grows, is nourished, needs food, like animals. Thus Adam, although created in grace, is called "animalis," 1 Cor. 15:45 and 46.
Second, he who follows the desires of the soul, that is, of concupiscence. Thus the Jews are called "sensual, not having the spirit."
Third, he who follows knowledge — not spiritual and sublime knowledge, but that which is obvious and easy to the senses of the soul. So it is taken here. "Animality," says St. Bernard, or whoever is the author of the treatise On the Solitary Life, after the beginning, "is a manner of life serving the senses of the body, namely when the soul as if outside itself, through the senses of the body, affected by the delights of the bodies it loves, by the enjoyment of them feeds or nourishes its sensuality; or when retreating within itself, and the bodies to which it has clung with the strong glue of love and habit, not being able to bear them with itself to the place of incorporeal nature, drags their images thither with itself, and there friendlily converses with them; accustomed to which, it thinks nothing exists except such as it left outside, or such as it has contracted within: hence as long as it is permitted, it has it pleasant to live according to the delights of the body; but when it is turned away from these, it knows not how to think except by imagining bodily things."
So a man is called "spiritual" who lives by the spirit. First, as it were a spirit, not needing food: thus Christ after the resurrection is called spiritual, 1 Cor. 15:45.
Second, he who follows the instinct, dictate and impulse of the spirit. So often elsewhere.
Third, he who grasps and draws in the sublime teaching of the spirit. Thus he is here called spiritual, says Chrysostom, St. Thomas and others. Morally St. Bernard in the place already cited: "The state of beginners," he says, "can be called animal; that of those advancing, rational; that of the perfect, spiritual: for the animal are those who of themselves are neither led by reason nor drawn by affection, and yet either moved by authority, or admonished by doctrine, or roused by example, approve and imitate the good: the rational are those who through the judgment of reason have knowledge and appetite of the good, but do not yet have the affection; the perfect are those who are led by the spirit, who are more fully illuminated by the Holy Spirit, whence they are also called spiritual; and because the good in which they are drawn by affection has flavor for them, they are called wise." Then comparing these three among themselves, and from them constructing a degree and ladder of the virtues, he adds: "The first state has to do with the body; the second exercises itself about the soul; the third has its rest only in God; the beginning of the good in conversion is perfect obedience; the progress, to subject one's body; the perfection, by use to have turned habit into love. But the beginning of the rational man is to understand those things which are set before him in the doctrine of faith; the progress, to prepare such things as are set before him; the perfection, when the judgment of reason passes into the affection of the mind. But the perfection of the rational man is the beginning of the spiritual man; his progress, with face unveiled to behold the glory of God; the perfection, to be transformed into the same image from clarity to clarity, as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Because they are spiritually examined (according to the reasons of the Holy Spirit and the rules of faith). — So the Roman Bibles: badly therefore do some read "is examined," that is, by examining is recalled to the spiritual and sublime understanding; while namely he is instructed in spiritual things, or when spiritual things are proposed to a sensual man, or when the sensual man is questioned and examined in spiritual matters (for this is what ἀνακρίνεται means), he cannot understand them.
Verse 15: But the Spiritual Man Judges All Things
He is called, as I have said, "spiritual" who follows the faith and prudence and doctrine of the Holy Spirit, who has the Spirit as ruler of his soul and as teacher. So Chrysostom, Anselm, St. Thomas.
He judges all things. — Hence Calvin and the Anabaptists make the private and fanatic spirit of every spiritual person, that is, of every faithful one, the judge of controversies of faith and the interpreter of Scripture; but unskillfully, because not all Christians are spiritual, but only the perfect, as I have said in verse 5.
Second, because others do not know whether anyone has this spirit, whether he is spiritual, or even whether he is truly faithful. Therefore this private and hidden spirit cannot be the public judge of all; but the Councils and the Pontiff. For these it is established are spiritual, ruled by the Holy Spirit, who has constituted them Doctors, and through them rules and teaches the Church.
Third, because the Fathers were most spiritual, yet they sometimes erred.
Fourth, because it is clear that the simple faithful need Pastors and Doctors, whom God has set in the Church for teaching, as the Apostle says, Eph. 4:11.
I answer therefore: "The spiritual man judgeth all things," — "all things," I say, in general, that is, both spiritual things, namely divine and sublime, and animal things, namely earthly and easy; whereas the animal man judges only animal things, so that it is a distribution for the kinds of individuals, not for the individuals of the kinds. Thus we say: I eat all, that is, any kind of food.
Second, "The spiritual man judgeth all things," that is, examines, refutes and discerns according to the rules of faith and divine prudence: which he has, as in so far as anyone is spiritual, and is sufficiently instructed by the spirit, e.g. in matters of faith that are clear and certain, he judges all things according to the articles of faith, and condemns the heresies and errors contrary to them. But if a new question should arise in faith or morals, and that one obscure and doubtful, the same prudence dictates to the spiritual man — who in this question is not yet spiritual, nor sufficiently instructed by the spirit — that by the indication of the same Spirit recourse must be had to Superiors, to Doctors, to the Roman Church as it were a matrix, that she may decide and define this question. For this is plainly according to the mind of the Apostle: he is spiritual, and judges all things by the direction and assistance of the Holy Spirit. For Christ promised this to St. Peter, and in him to the successors of Peter, Matt. ch. xviii, v. 18; Luke ch. xxii, v. 32. These therefore are most especially spiritual, and these judge all things: it is otherwise with others lower down, who, although they may be spiritual, yet often must seek the judgment of Superiors: for otherwise he who is spiritual would not have to abide by and obey the judgment of his father, his teacher, or his prelate. So far therefore as the spiritual man follows the leading of the Spirit — either teaching him directly, or sending him to teachers — to that extent he cannot err. So St. John says that he who is born of God cannot sin, in so far namely as, born of God, he abides in Him. So St. Thomas, Anselm, Ambrose, Theophylact, Chrysostom, as if Paul said: A spiritual man judges well in general about the secret mysteries of the faith and other matters, and if he doubts, he knows what to do and whom he should consult, that he may be instructed. Thus Aristotle, book III of the Ethics, IV: "A good man," he says, "judges rightly in all things, and the virtuous man is the rule and measure of all human matters;" because, namely, he has his judgment and affection well composed and conformed to reason and law, says St. Thomas: yet in more difficult cases he must consult those more prudent and more skilled in the law. This will appear more in the following paragraph.
And he himself is judged by no man, — that is, refuted, condemned. So Chrysostom, namely in so far as he judges spiritually: for otherwise even Peter was judged, that is, refuted, by Paul, Gal. 2:11. On the contrary, the animal man is spiritually examined and judged by the spiritual: although, as I said, he does not perceive nor understand: for in this whole passage the Apostle wishes only, by the spiritual man, to exclude animal and worldly wisdom, and to compare and prefer the spiritual to the animal — that animal wisdom by which the Corinthians gloried, and on account of which they put Paul behind Apollo as unskilled. Whence he tacitly calls the Corinthians animal, because they sought the learned words of human wisdom, that is, human wisdom and eloquence, such as they admired in Apollo: and he says that they cannot judge of spiritual things, and of Paul's spiritual wisdom; but that he, and spiritual men like himself, must judge both of spiritual and of animal wisdom — and this, and nothing else, the Apostle wishes.
Verse 16: Who Has Known the Mind of the Lord?
Who hath known (by himself, that is) the mind of the Lord? — He alludes to Isaiah xl, 13, where for "who hath known?" the Hebrew has מי תכן mi ticken, that is, who hath measured, namely, who has fully and adequately seen through and penetrated the Spirit of the Lord? As if to say: Since the spiritual man has been taught by God, and follows His rules, hence in so far as he is such, he can be judged by no one (for this is what the Apostle here proves); for he who would wish to judge him would have to be wiser than or greater than the Spirit of God, that he might penetrate and as it were measure the Spirit of God. But who is that? Surely no one. So Chrysostom. Yet a spiritual man can and ought often to be judged, because it is not known whether he is spiritual in such a matter. Whence, ch. xiv, 29: "Let the prophets," he says, "speak two or three, and let the rest judge." Indeed many boast themselves spiritual who are animal, like the Anabaptists: it is otherwise with Paul, whom all held to be spiritual. Whence follows:
We have the mind of Christ. — "The mind," that is, the understanding, intelligence, wisdom of Christ, namely spiritual and divine, not animal and human: for our wisdom is not Plato's, not Pythagoras's, but Christ's, who has poured His own teachings into our mind. So Chrysostom.